OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

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TMA 05 - Discuss the treatment of female alienation as it is presented in The Colour Purple

and one other prose test from Literature and Gender. Your essay should be no more than

1,500 words in length.

The novel The Colour Purple use the correct spelling of the title by Alice Walker, published in

1982 has been the subject of (much debate and controversy) this kind of generalisation does

not add to your discussion over Walker’s depiction of stereotypical black men and women in

the American South during the early nineteenth century. No, it is not set in the 1800’s – be

more careful.

Walker has written the novel in an epistolary style, meaning that it is structured in a series of

lLetters written to God and another character Nettie. This creates a personal first-person

point of view and enhances the dramatic and realisticm perspective of the main character

Celie. It is this structure that (allows the reader an intimacy and reliability of Celie’s story)

this needs some rewriting and her voice without being interrupted by the abusive men that are

present in her life. In many ways, writing letters is Celie’s escape from her life in Georgia and

enables her to talk to someone, to express herself. The letters are written in a (possible) ?

southern American dialect and the vocabulary combined with the idioms gives Walker the

medium to express everyday life in a very (tangible) realistic? Authentic? way for the reader.

“If hair is nappy” (p. 49) and “or clabber up” (p. 55) are examples of the oral culture of the old

southern America and is reflected in all speaking characters.

The first letter begins with the declaration from a naïve narrator that she has been raped by

“Fonso”. We do not learn until Letter 6 that Celie believes Alphonso to be her father and then

again, we learn later that he is her step-father. To procure her anonymity in Letter One, Celie

does not give her name, which we learn later in Letter 7, however this is used by Walker to

show how troubled and desperate this fourteen-year-old girl is for someone to confide in

good. Rape is shown by Walker in the novel as something which the male has authority over

and the woman in the weaker of the two genders, cowering to him while still finding her

OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

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OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender
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release in another medium. If her life as a woman has started with the rape byof a male she

was dependent on for security, it has influenced her decisions later on in the novel and her

beliefs and attitude towards men. Again, be careful not to confuse the character and the

author; Celie does not have agency (power) as a character in the novel but Walker uses her

and depicts her in specific ways.

Female alienation is a strong theme in the novel and (is an opposition) what is an opposition?

This is not clear that Celie comes up against during her lifetime, as we see through her

perspective in the letters. Oppression of the female sex and abuse are dramatically

highlighted by Walker to show that Celie leads a hard life from a young age  good. Celie has

a set view of the world being a “man’s world”. In every aspect of her life, she is dominated by

males including her step-father and authority figure Fonso, her husband Albert or Mr.—and

God.  good point. If you could contextualise these points in terms of location and time they

would have greater impact in the discussion.

Religion is a deep-rooted theme in the novel as the first 53 Letters are addressed to God

specifically. From the Letters, we know that Celie and Nettie are deeply pious women, raised

Christians in a God-fearing and Male-fearing old South, meaning that they are alienated in

their personal life through their beliefs and family structure how exactly?. This adds alienation

for Celie as her God is an “old white man”, a contrast to herself as a black woman good

point. Not only is her God white and male, but he is another authority in her life that is

different to her good. It can be argued that God is an omnipresent character and the

guiding hand for Celie, giving her the outlet to escape from her world and find solace in her

belief. Doesn’t this contradict the point you have just made about the image of God being one

source of alienation?

The colour purple is a statement in itself. Walker uses the colour to represent the lesbianism

between Shug and Cellie, also to show the closeness of their continued relationship through

their mutual connection to Albert. It is in the field of purple that Cellie expresses to Shug that

she no longer writes to God, because she believes to be alienated from him, that his is some

OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

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OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender
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“old white man” and therefore further from her position you’ve already said this above, free

and independent from the (shackles that the men are oppressing on her) this needs some

rewriting. (Shug indicates to the purple flowers) what do you mean here? Leave time to

reread to check that you have said what you meant to say and changes her mind to a more

pantheistic view, that God is natural and has no gender. And that God is in everything.

Later in the novel, Celie writes to vent her frustration and desperation for an answer. “I start to

wonder why us need love. Why us suffer. Why us black. Why us men and women. Where do

children really come from. It didn’t take long to realize I didn’t hardly know nothing. And that if

you ast yourself why you black or a man or a woman or a bush it don’t mean nothing if you

don’t ast why you here, period.” (lines 289-290) Celie is boldly stating the reasons why she

feels oppressed and is looking for a way out of the imprisonment she’s in by knowing

“nothing”. Uneducated and unloved, Celie is trapped in a world that is ruled by the male

gender created by Walker to show (the gender issues present in the old South) you need to

make this more specific.

Walker does not concentrate on the horrible rape that the novel starts with, but on the feelings

and affects that the initial rape causes. In Cellie’s world, rape and violence go hand in hand

until she meets Shug, who is kind, caring and (a gender away) expression from the males

who have wrought authority over Cellie. Again, Cellie’s love for Shug, even if at the beginning

just infatuation, is simply to have someone who will be there for her and love her when no one

else will in her life.

However, in the case of Mabel Waring in Virginia Woolf’s 1924 short story “The New Dress”,

the character arrives at a socialite party only to find that her dress is unsuitable for the

occasion. It is written as a stream of consciousness from the protagonist Mabel Waring while

maintaining a third person narrator and as we see the character develop through her inner

ramblings, we see the plot unfold and learn what has happened for her to be in the situation

she is in.

OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

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OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender
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Mabel catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and goes to the mirror to scrutinise herself

more closely (look with more scrutiny upon her). Woolf develops this well, showing the

insecurities and inferiorities that Mabel in now feeling in her new dress as “It was not right.”

Her imagination begins to work overtime and Woolf shows the inner consciousness begin to

question and become paranoid over the thoughts the other guests could be having. Mabel

begins to imagine that the guests were saying “What a fright she looks! What a hideous new

dress!” It is Mabel’s simple-mindedness that is too overbearing even for her as she goes into

a tirade about her new dress and how she wanted to appear “original” by having it made out

of an old pattern. Can you link this interpretation of the story to the question?

We do not know what the other guests were thinking at the party as the main focus is on

Mabel, however, we do know that Mabel’s insecurities cause her to leave the party in great

haste to mask herself in the streets instead of being in front of those who were (in her mind)

criticising her. Mabel’s consciousness is very indicative of a socialite in the early twentieth

century trying to get through large social gatherings with their peers when their finances are

too meagre. This is reflected in the short story. Woolf uses the many ramblings of Mabel as

a sign of madness and alienation for the woman from her peers in society. Mabel feels as

though she is the centre of attention but for all the wrong reasons, inverting her need to be

dominant and show off what she has achieved by being “original”, instead in her mind she is

the centre of ridicule and as such she leaves the party to avoid the thoughts intruding on her

mind. Is this the feminist of early twentieth century literature that Woolf is trying to convey?

Don’t ask questions, answer the point in your discussion if you think it is important and

relevant.

The colour yellow features quite prominently in the short story as the dress is old made of a

yellow decrepit pattern that no longer suits what she feels to be the fashion dictated by

society. In the sense that Mabel feels the colour is confining to her, colour in The Colour

Purple is liberating for the women, showing their sense of dominance. Whilst for Mabel it is

an insecure colour, born of all her insecurities such as her finances, her personal life with her

adequate husband and her just adequate life.

OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

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OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender
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Woolf shows that Mabel does not appreciate herself or trust her own judgement in any sense

whatsoever; feeling crowded by the prying eyes of the other guests and swallowed dup

enough in her own self-esteem to have to leave for fear of being ridiculed. Her problems are

not as (deeply construed) ? as Cellie’s in The Colour Purple who has to settle for any kind of

life instead of a simply adequate one. Woolf’s twentieth century woman and Walker’s

twentieth century woman are living in two completely different worlds where dominance and

insecurities are born from different life experiences. yes, and you could have contextualised

these texts/worlds more clearly in order to situate your points within a firmer framework.

Bibliography

Literature and Gender: An Introductory Textbook this is not the title (Approaching Literature),

Lizbeth Goodman, Routledge; 1 edition (28 Mar 1996)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Phoenix; New Ed edition (5 Aug 2004)

Check and follow the correct format for the presentation of bibliographical citations.

Word Count: 1,566

OU Number TMA 05: Literature and Gender

Name